Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” For there were so many people coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat. ³² They went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. ³³ But many people saw them leave and knew where they were going. They ran there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus stepped out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. His heart went out to them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ It was already late in the day when his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. ³⁶ Send them away so they can go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”

They asked him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii^[a] worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸ He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹ He directed everyone to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and blessed the loaves and broke them. Then he kept giving pieces to his disciples to set in front of them. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ Then they picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.